Patients have become more involved with their care. Therefore, healthcare systems and providers are under intense pressure to change the dynamics of their interactions with patients and prospective patients.

However, you might be asking yourself what are the factors that play into voice search and how will this impact your SEO strategy? Well, we have answers for you!

Home Devices

Voice search devices, particularly voice-activated smart speakers, pose an interesting challenge for your SEO: smart speakers almost exclusively provide information through audio interactions with no visual medium available to draw consumers in. Home device users performing voice searches will only engage with your website through questions; therefore, information must be presented concisely and clearly. The growing presence of these audio devices, including Amazon Echo and Google Home, drives, more than ever, the importance of creating engaging content to generate leads.

Who, What, When, Where, How, Why

When you’re manually searching for information, you might type in a few keywords or a simple question to find the answer to your query (think: "Steve Jobs wife"). Voice search users, however, tend to ask longer, more complex search questions with several keywords to find information. To ensure that you rank for these searches, consider optimizing your website for longer keywords and phrases that might be used in search queries. Creating an FAQ-style content page can also help with ranking for longer search queries.

Local SEO

With voice search on the rise, optimizing your website for local search is key. Think with Google reports that 39% of smart speaker owners are interested in business information when performing searches. One of the most convenient aspects of voice search is that users can simply ask where the nearest grocery store is (or whatever service they need) and receive a quick answer. In order to appear in local voice search results, make sure that your website pages and content are optimized with location keywords and that your Google My Business listing is current.

Voice search is an exciting phenomenon that may seem overwhelming, but understanding the key elements is a good place to start as you adjust your SEO strategy. Vive la (voice search) révolution!